Hooker



(No Model.)

H..B. HOOKER.

. MANUFACTURE OF LEATHER ARTICLES. No. 352,752. Patented Nov. 16, 188.6

2 0. 5. eiabw- N. PETERS. Fholo-Lilhqgnlphun Washington. 0.6.

UNITED STATES PATENT EIc HORACE B. HOOKER, OF ROCHESTER, NEW YORK,ASSIGNOR TO S. H. HOOKER, OF SAME PLACE.

MANU FACTURE OF LEATH ER .ARTICLES.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 352,752, dated November16, 1886.

Application filed August 16, 1886'. Serial No. 210,988. (No model.) I

To aZZ whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, HORACE B. HOOKER, a citizen of the United States,residing at Rochester, N ew' York, have-invented an Improved Process ofManufacturing Articles of Leather such as boots, shoes, harness, &c.ofwhich.

thereof specified in the claim annexed to the said specification.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a side elevation of a shoeillustrating my invention. Fig. 2 is a view of the sole of a shoeembodying my invention. Fig. 3 is a longitudinal section through a rowof stitches, showing the manner of carrying my invention into practice.F In the practical operation of uniting leather by means of my improvedprocess the parts are attached together by stitching or sewing with anymachine forming a stiteh which can readily be removed. The row ofstitches thus formed is then removed, leaving the perforations made bythe needle open and adapted for'the final step of the process, whichconsists in sewing the parts together in theordinary way by hand,dispensing entirely with the use of the awl in the latter operation, andthereby materially reducing its cost, and enabling an unskilled-workmanto produce work of a better character than that ordinarily done by hand..The machine-sewing should be done with asmaller needle and thread thanthe handsewing thread which is to follow, and the machine-thread shouldbe wet with or passed through water, (without using wax or gum,) so asto properly set the form of the stitchholes and permit the ready removalof the thread. In making boots and shoes by my invention the outsole issewed to the welt,

stitched aloft, or in any desired channel by any ordinary machine whichmakes a chain or other stitch which oan readily be removed. The shoe isnow ready for the handsewing workman, (either skilled or unskilled,)

who proceeds to remove the machine-sewed stitches, leaving the holesopen and ready for the reception of the waxed-end thread, which isinserted in the usual manner, dispensing entirely with the use of theawl, and producing thereby (even with unskilled labor) improved and moreperfecthand-sewed work than can be accomplished .by the old method.

In the accompanying drawings, the shoe A is represented ashaving thesole B in the differeut stages of the process. Thus at O is representedthe machine-sewing, which, having been removed,- leaves the row ofperforations made by the awl or needle of the machine, as indicated atD, and at E is shown the handsewing, done in the usual manner, butwithout using the awl, by means of the waxed ends F.

In Fig. 3 I have represented two pieces of leather, B B, as attachedtogether at O by the machine-stitching, and at E by the hand-sewing, theintermediate space being provided with the perforations D, left afterthe removal of the machinesewing.

The operations are substantially the same as those already describedwhen my improved process is used in uniting pieces of leather togetherin the manufacture of harness, trunks, orother articles. By using thethread in the machine-sewing the holes once formed are preup, as wouldoccur if it were not used, the awl or needle in piercing one holeforcing the vented from being entirely or partially closed intermediateleather into the one last made;-

and I am thereby enabled to dispense with the awl entirely in doing thehand-sewing, as the thread of the machine-sewing keeps the holes open,so as to permit the introduction of the waxed ends, after themachine-sewing has been removed.

It will be readily understood that my improved process may be applied tomaterials other than leather.

I claim- As an improvement in the art of manufactnring articles ofleather-as boots, harness, holes previously made by themachine-stitches, &c.-the herein-described process of uniting wherebythe elnploymentof an aw] is dispensed the parts, consisting in sewingthem together with,'substantially as described.

by suitable machinery with a line of stitches HORACE B. HOOKER. 5 whichpermit the ready removal of the thread, Witnesses:

in snbsequentl y removing the thread, and then GEO. B. SELDEN,

sewing the parts again together by hand in the O. G. CRANNELL.

